Loading...
01-16-1996 - Proposal to Provide Professional Engineering Services for the Assessment Districts - Berryman & HenigarCity of West Covina Memorandum AGENDA TO: City Manager and City Council ITEM NO. C-7b FROM: Patrick J. Glover DATE January 16, 1996 City Engineer/Public Works Director ®PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER SUBJECT: PROPOSAL TO PROVIDE PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERING SERVICES FOR THE ASSESSMENT DISTRICTS - BERRYMAN AND HENIGAR SUMMARY: Berryman and Henigar, formally BSI Consultants, has submitted a proposal to provide professional engineering services for the Administrative of the Maintenance District Nos. 1, 2, 4, 6 and 7 and the Citywide Maintenance District at a cost of $22,500. Also, a proposal to evaluate the Assessment Methodology and a look at a possible district consolidation at a cost of $17,000 was submitted. Total cost for both proposal is $39,500. BACKGROUND Since 1957, when the City first formed a Lighting District, until 1991 the assessment engineering services where provided by a consultant. City staff assisted the consultant by gathering basic information on parcel usage and development, preparing the staff report that went to City Council and preparing summary financial reports. The consultant was fully responsible for the assessment methodology, preparation of the assessment rolls, submittal of the assessment rolls to the County Assessor, and updating all parcel information that the County Assessor provided. In addition, the consultant reviewed the assessment districts for any changes that had occurred due to development within the City and reconciling those changes with the County Assessor's information, and review all protests of assessments, along with responding to any complaints both verbally and in writing. This contract ranged in cost, depending upon the level of work involved, from $60,000 to $100,000 per year. These costs were -fully recovered from the various assessment districts. The staff costs associated with the assessment engineering as well as the engineering support services including engineering activities relating to maintenance and capital projects were also recovered from each of the Districts. Commencing in 1991, City staff took on full responsibility for assessment engineering as well as all the engineering support services necessary to administer these Districts. In order to accomplish the additional work a Civil Engineering Assistant position was added to the Building and Engineering Department. This change resulted in an overall savings to all of the assessment districts of approximately $40,000 per year. In Fiscal Year 1995-96, at City Council direction, all engineering costs were eliminated from the budgets for Maintenance District Nos. 1, 2, 4, 6, and 7. The total amount cut from these Districts was $103,0.0,0 which included the Civil Engineering Assistant position that had'been providing the assessment engineering services. On February 7, 1995, City Council awarded the assessment engineering services°for Fiscal'Year 1995-96 contract to BSI Consultants at a cost of $35,000. In their year of service; BSI Consultants identified approximately 700 parcels that were excluded from the Citywide Maintenance District rolls which generated an additional $100,000. It should be noted that considerable staff time was needed to assist the consultant and in preparing the operating --budgets for each District. BSI Consultants Inc., now doing business as Berryman and,,.Henigar, has submitted two (2) new proposals to provide the assessment engineering service for Fiscal Year 1996-97. r • City Manager and City Council January 16, 1995 Page Two. ANALYSIS First Proposal The first new proposal is divided into provided in the previous fiscal year. Th Part ' I: Annual Administration parts, which is basically the identical services services and their cost are as follows: (Cost: $20,500) 1. Meet with staff to discuss methods to be used to update assessment rolls, exchange pertinent information, review.methodology and benefit zones and finalize project scheduling. 2. Calculate the amount to collect from each parcel. 3. Prepare Engineer's Report for each District. .4. Update assessment district maps and exhibits to reflect changes over the past year. 5. Prepare draft staff reports to the City Council for each District. 6. Attend City Council meeting involving the approval of the Engineer's Report for each District and the adoption of the Resolution of Intention to. Levy and collect assessments. 7. Prepare draft legal notices as required for publication in a newspaper of general circulation. 8. Attend public meeting and hearing for each District to provide technical support. 9. Prepare an assessment rolls in magnetic tape format as require by the County Auditor/Controller. 10. Provide a copy of the final Engineer's Report with updated assessment boundary maps and final assessment rolls. 11. Answer property owners inquires, as requested by staff. Part II:. ; . , Annual Administration - 1911 Act Assessment District Nos. 1 and 2 (Cost: $2,000) Provide the same basic services as, found in Part I for District Nos. I and 2 _' ; which are ad valorem. f" City. Manager and City Council January 16, 1995 Page Three ANALYSIS (continued) Second Proposal The second proposal submitted is to provide a review of the current assessment methodologies and possible consolidation of the existing Maintenance Districts formed under the 1972 Act. This proposal consists of the following services at a cost of $17,000. Assessment Methodology and District Consolidation Study (Cost: $17,000) 1. Analyze the types and locations of improvements being maintained by each District to determine if new or revised zoned of benefits should be recommended. 2. Analyze the types of improvements being maintained by each District to determine if modification in assessment methodology should be recommended. 3. Generally analyze the financial impact associated with the recommendation identified. 4. Review results of the initial analysis with staff. 5. Prepare summary report incorporating a discussion for each district and explaining the recommended modification and the financial impact associated with those changes. 6. Attend City Council study session to present the recommendation. Staff has evaluated this proposal and the methodology used in our Maintenance Districts. Current methodology used in the Citywide Maintenance District is based primarily on assessable front footage, with most of the number districts using a per parcel charge. While most cities now use a per parcel charge for all Districts, the rate adjustments to the CitywideDistrict based on this type of methodology would result in minor adjustments both up or down depending on current parcel size. The owners of large parcels would pay a little less and the owners of small or medium lots would pay, a little more. Since these adjustments would be minor in nature, the cost of $17,000 doesnot appear to warrant looking at the current methodology. In last year's review of the BSI proposal, the City Council did not select this review of methodology. Therefore, staff recommends that the assessment engineering services, 'to administer the Maintenance District be preformed by Berryman and Henigar. If City Council is interested in reviewing the methodologies and District consolidation, Berryman and Henigar should also provide those services. FISCAL IMPACT Currently, the funding for the assessment engineering services to administer the Maintenance District at cost of $22,500 is budgeted within the various Maintenance Districts operating budgets. The following table shows the funds that were budgeted for the assessment engineering service for each District. Also, -a comparison between the last fiscal year contract and this proposal. a City Manager and City Council January 16, 1995 Page Four FISCAL IMPACT (continued) Maintenance District No. 1 $ 1,500 $ 1, 500 $ 1,000 Maintenance District No. 2 1,500 1,500 1,000 Maintenance District No. 4 5,000 5,000, 2,500 Maintenance District No. 6 1,500 2,000 1,500 Maintenance District No. 7 1,500 2,000 1,500 Citywide Maintenance District 24,000 23,000 15,000 TOTALS $ 35,000 $ 35,000 $ 22,500 The consultant contract was funded from savings from various Maintenance Districts' operational budgets. If the City Council desires having Berryman and Henigar review the methodology and the consolidation of the existing Maintenance Districts at a cost of $17,000, additional funding will be needed. The,funding can come from the district reserves or the City's general fund reserves. The total cost for all services would be $39,500. ALTERNATIVES The alternative to having Berryman and Henigar provide district engineering services is to have City staff provide the service as it has done in the past. This could be performed at two service levels. The first is to provide the same level of service as has been provided of the past three years by filling the current vacancy, with a staff engineer. The second alternative is to provide a much lower level of service by only responding to property owner inquiries and reproducing last year's assessment reports and changing the year: This could result in some inaccurate and missing assessments as property is subdivided and as the County Assessor makes map changes. RECOMMENDATION It is recommended that the City Council accept the first proposal from Berryman and Henigar for professional services for the administration of the special Districts and authorize the Mayor and City Clerk to execute a Consultant Agreement for the designated work to be done for an amount not to exceed $22,500. atrick J. Glover City Engineer/Public Works Director P)G:OC:gc AGENDA:assessdi.pro i